Social Media Demographics
Perhaps the most significant societal development since the invention of the internet, social media platforms have exploded in recent years. Today, it’s not just millennials on social. It’s your grandma and your grandpa, your long-lost aunt and the 12-year old kid next door. It’s people from around the globe, from a vast array of cultures, backgrounds and belief systems. The advent of social media has allowed people to connect in new and unprecedented ways, and though there are certainly some pitfalls to look out for, we consider these platforms just another way to communicate with different communities and our supporters.
So, we’ve established that there are all sorts on social, but you might be surprised by where specific groups are spending their time! We’ve put together some quick stats on social media demographics to give you some insight into where you’ll find males versus females, city slickers versus suburbanites and the younger versus the older generation.
Connect with VanGo on Facebook!
With an average of 1.15 billion daily users, Facebook remains the market leader in the social media sphere. As you’ll see, the percentage of people who use Facebook is ridiculously high!
Gender:
- 75% of men
- 83% of women
Location:
- 81% of adults living in urban areas
- 77% of adults living in suburban areas
Age:
- 88% of 18–29 year olds
- 84% of 30–49 year olds
- 72% of 50–64 year olds
- 62% of 65+ year olds
Connect with VanGo on Instagram!
In 2016, Instagram grew its users by 100 million! Though not quite as high as Facebook, the percentage of adults who use Instagram is still impressive.
Gender:
- 26% of men
- 38% of women
Location:
- 39% of adults living in urban areas
- 28% of adults living in suburban areas
Age:
- 59% of 18-29 year olds
- 33% of 30–49 year olds
- 18% of 50–64 year olds
- 8% of 65+ year olds
Connect with VanGo on Twitter!
Though Twitter’s popularity seems to have waned in recent years, it remains a go-to option for social customer service. There are still a considerable amount of people on Twitter today!
Gender:
- 24% of men
- 25% of women
Location:
- 26% of adults living in urban areas
- 24% of adults living in suburban areas
Age:
- 36% of 18-29 year olds
- 23% of 30–49 year olds
- 21% of 50–64 year olds
- 10% of 65+ year olds
Connect with VanGo on LinkedIn!
The largest professional network, LinkedIn currently has over 467 million registered members. Not bad for such a specific social platform.
Gender:
- 31% of men
- 27% of women
Location:
- 34% of adults living in urban areas
- 30% of adults living in suburban areas
Age:
- 34% of 18-29 year olds
- 33% of 30–49 year olds
- 24% of 50–64 year olds
- 20% of 65+ year olds
Connect with VanGo on Pinterest!
Pinterest is a great tool for businesses who are trying to grow their online presence. The demographics for the platform are the most skewed in terms of sex which presents a unique opportunity.
Gender:
- 17% of men
- 45% of women
Location:
- 30% of adults living in urban areas
- 34% of adults living in suburban areas
Age:
- 36% of 18-29 year olds
- 34% of 30–49 year olds
- 28% of 50–64 year olds
- 16% of 65+ year olds
MESSAGING APPS (e.g. WhatsApp)
Messaging apps have also seen a rise in popularity in recent years. Standard messaging apps like WhatsApp rely on the internet and are used by a good chunk of the population.
Gender:
- 31% of men
- 27% of women
Age:
- 42% of 18-29 year olds
- 29% of 30–49 year olds
- 19% of 50–64 year olds
AUTO-DELETE APPS (e.g. Snapchat)
Snapchat is the leading auto-delete app, but there are a few platforms like Wickr who follow the same model of content that erases itself after a set amount of time. These types of apps are markedly more popular with the younger generation.
Gender:
- 24% of men
- 23% of women
Age:
- 56% of 18-29 year olds
- 13% of 30–49 year olds
- 9% of 50–64 year olds
What social platforms are you on? We’d love to know. Share with us here, and tune into the next episode of VanGo After Dark to catch the results of this poll!
Thanks Pew Research Center, for their enlightening social media study. All data was pulled from this study.